The Difference of One Man
by TheStoryTraveler
Summary: It's amazing how much a person affects our lives. Imagine if just one more entered Harry's life, the difference they'll make.


Cassiopea Malfoy was considered to be a Slytherin to the core. So very cunning, being able to strategize and control the outcomes of almost all situations by influencing the various variables that affected the outcome. Ambitions, of political aspirations, that would make Salazar himself proud. Many said she would someday take the Ministry by storm.

Even though she was two years younger than her older brother, Lucius, she made him look like a naïve toddler when it came to politics, both academic and social. She was the Storm-Queen of Slytherin.

She grew up like any other Malfoy, well off and with lots of influence. However, something about how she was raised made her different than her brother.

Perhaps it was because she was the female and, therefore, not the heir. Making her want to establish herself so that she would achieve her own power. As the female of a Noble house, she would not retain any of the power the family controlled. She was considered a bargaining chip to help the future of the family. Her brother, as the heir, was considered the future of the family.

Or maybe it was an external influence. The Malfoys hired many tutors for their children, so it was entirely plausible that she was exposed to an unexpected source of knowledge that made her different.

Whatever the reasons may be, she disagreed with some of what her family preached. Blood does not make a person better or stronger. To her that was an ignorant belief that was detrimental to the power she retained in the long run. That belief led to inbreeding, and therefore, a weaker person.

She believed a person made a person. How they acted, their characteristics, their habits, choices, and beliefs, makes them who they are and how they fit into the world.

But, like any true Slytherin, she did not preach this too the world. No, she showed it through her actions. So subtle and cunning that only those that knew her would see it. She had only two friends while she was in school, Severus Snape and Athena Delacour. Together they were the perfect Slytherins, with ample amounts of cunning and ambition for their lives.

However, as was afore mentioned, she could control _almost_ all situations. One thing she could never control, nor can anyone else for that matter, was love. And for some reason, she found herself falling in love with Sirius Black, the black sheep of the Black family. She was a little frustrated that it had to be him that she fell in love with at first, but when the love was reciprocated, she didn't care. In the end, her mask, of a stormy frigidness, was melted by, the pyres of passion, held within Sirius. Maybe the saying 'opposites attract' holds some truth after all.

When they were 15 she went to her parents with Sirius by her side, and they declared their love for each other. The Malfoys being who they were, were eager to combine the Black and Malfoy families. They carelessly signed a marriage contract, and when Sirius, being the younger of the two, turned sixteen, they wed.

But then Sirius ran away from home, and the Malfoys wanted to terminate the marriage, too bad, so sad, as they say. In their eagerness they didn't read the fine print. Cassiopea, in all of her glorious cunning, wrote into the contract before it was signed that only either spouse, instead of granting that power to the head of the family as well, could only dissolve the marriage.

They couldn't disown them for various reasons. Cassiopea, because then they'd lose the money they received for the bride price, and Sirius, being the only male of the Black family could be the only heir till another magical male Black with the Black name was born.

So, the families decided to wait for them to have a son, only then would they kill them both, and raise the son themselves. The only other option was to have the Black wealth divided up between the spouses of the female heirs and the family declared extinct. But the head of the Black family didn't like that, so they went with plan A.

Little did they know that Cassiopea was already dead.

After she and Sirius graduated from school they, like many of the magically families fighting against Voldemort, went into hiding. For a time she helped the Order of the Phoniex, but for some reason known only to the Potter's, Sirius and Dumbledore, she stopped and was never heard from again.

Sirius was seen being happier then ever, as well as the Potter's, but no one knew why. Just after the New Year started of 1980, the Potters announced that they were expecting a child. And on July 31st of that year they gave birth to a baby boy, that they named Harold James Potter. Then they too disappeared.

No one had seen hide nor hair of the Potters, nor had they seen the Blacks. No one paid much attention to them, though, with the war getting worse and worse.

Then on the fateful Halloween of 1981, it was announced that the elder Potters were dead, but their year old son had vanquished the Dark Lord Voldemort. Shortly after, it was announced that Sirius Black was the one to betray the Potters and was given life in Azkaban.

The British wizarding world rejoiced and celebrated. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was gone. But in the fallout, no one remembered Cassiopea Black nee Malfoy, and since her earlier disappearance everyone assumed she died a long time ago. The Malfoy and Black families cut there loses, and the Blacks accepted their eventual demise.

But little did they know, that on August 7th of 1980, a young boy was born in a muggle hospital in France, however, due to complications the mother passed and for some unknown reasons the father was not present. But before she died, she named him Leonis Rex Ultimus Black.

.

_Aproximately thirteen years later, Vin Magie, France._

He Greyish owl flew into the open window of the main house of the Delacour vineyards. It landed in front of a beautiful lady that looked to be in her late 30s. On her left was a teenage boy with kind of short blondeish hair, and vicious green eyes.

"Bonjour petit. Qu'est-ce que vous avez pour moi?*" The lady ask warmly to

the owl. It stuck out its leg stubbornly as if eager to be rid of its load. The lady chuckled before taking the letter. The owl stole some water from a nearby perch and disappeared into the night. She looked at the letter in her hands.

"Étrange. Il n'a pas le nom ou l'adresse de l'expéditeur." She explains.

At this the boy looks up from his book with a blank expression.

"Soyez prudent." The boy states, while looking her in the eyes. The lady nods her head in agreement.

She puts the letter down carefully; as if she did it aggressively would set off a trap. Then she pulls a stick out from her pocket, mutters a few words, and soft glow is emitted from the letter. Witnessing the glow and making a choice, she carefully charms open the letter, and then puts the letter on display in front of her.

_**Dear Athena,**_

_**I'm sure by now you have heard the news of me vacating that charming place of a cage. Now before your judgment of me comes to the front of your beautiful brain, just know that the old bearded goat is sending you a letter explaining the truth about me.**_

_**Now, with hope of your belief, I have to ask; what happened? **_

_**Immediately after my… release, I traveled to Paris to inquire about the beautiful constellation of mine as well as my future. I found neither hide nor heir. After I spent many weeks looking, I finally had to continue on, to the reason for my departure of that uncomfortable living situation. It has been… more or less solved.**_

_**So I returned. I finally found, the hospital, and asked them. **_

_**I left heartbroken. **_

_**Now I am desperately asking you about what happened. I need to know. I reside in the place of my forefathers. Come see me please.**_

_**Worryingly,**_

_**Padfoot.**_

By the time the lady, now identified as Athena, finished reading, her mask had broken, and shock overwhelmed her features. She looked at the boy, and saw him stroking a beautiful white owl. She looked at him half quizzically and half shocked. He had a letter in his hands. She grabbed it, opened it hurriedly and read:

_**Dear Athena,**_

_**I have know doubt this letter comes to you as a shock, but it seems we were mistaken as to status of a mutual black acquaintance. We were too quick to judge, and did not determine for ourselves the truth of the matter. And as much as it saddens me to say, we were wrong. **_

_**I believe you will or have received a correspondence from this acquaintance. Please believe him.**_

_**Sincerely,**_

_** An old bearded goat. AD.**_

She ran to her office on the second floor, hurriedly wrote a small letter, enveloped it, ran back downstairs, tied it to the owl, and sent it off.

Still flushed, she exclaimed to the boy, "Emballez vos choses. Nous allons à Londres."

. ,

_Somewhere, in Scotland._

The headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witch Craft and Wizardry sat in his office. When Hedwig flew in and dropped the letter in front of him, then flew off to get some rest before she rejoined her caretaker.

Albus Dumbledore carefully opened the letter.

After reading it, he hurried to his fireplace, threw in some powder, and exclaimed, "Headquarters!" Before stepping through.

When he arrived he saw Sirius Black, accused murderer, coming up to him.

"Albus?! What's wrong?" he asked.

The aged man gave him the letter. Unfolding it, Sirius began to read:

_** Padfoot,**_

_**We're on our way.**_

_**Hoots.**_

So I hope you enjoyed.

The translations for the French part are as follows:

Bonjour petit. Qu'est-ce que vous avez pour moi?- Hello little one. What do you have for me?

Étrange. Il n'a pas le nom ou l'adresse de l'expéditeur.- Strange. The sender did not leave a name or address.

Soyez prudent.- Be careful.

I am sorry if they are not accurate. I wish I was able to speak and write French, but my studies are so far only in German.

Let me know what thought. O and I own nothing. The Harry Potter universe and characters belong to JK Rowling.

ST.


End file.
